Maruti Suzuki India's Q4 net profit up 10% at Rs 1882.1 cr, misses estimates; net sales rise by 14.4%

New Delhi:  Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, whose iconic ‘Maruti 800’ helped popularise cars in India, posted a 10 percent rise in quarterly net profit Rs 1,882.1 crore for the last quarter of fiscal ended on 31 March, 2018 but missed analysts’ expectations due to higher tax expenses, sending its shares lower. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 1,710.5 crore in the January-March period of 2016-17, the company said in a statement. The Indian unit of Japanese car maker Suzuki Motor Corp said on Friday, “Increase in effective tax rate impacted net profit.” [caption id=“attachment_4187993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Net sales during the fourth quarter of 2017-18 rose to Rs 20,594.3 crore, up 14.4 percent against the year-ago period. Total car sales were up 11.4 percent to 4,61,773 units, the company said. For entire 2017-18, MSI posted net profit of Rs 7,721.8 crore, up 5.1 percent, from Rs 7,350.2 crore in the previous fiscal. Net sales last fiscal stood at Rs 78,104.8 crore, up 16.7 percent from 2016-17. Volume sales during 2017-18 were up 13.4 percent at 17,79,574 units. Of this, exports were at 1,26,074 units, the company said. The company said its board has recommended a dividend of Rs 80 per share of face value Rs 5 for 2017-18. Maruti’s operations are key for Suzuki as it provides the bulk of the Japanese automaker’s revenues, and has a market value of over $40 billion, more than one-and-a-half times that of its parent. The Indian company sold a total of 461,773 vehicles during the quarter, up about 11.4 percent from a year earlier, while sales at home grew 11.6 percent to 427,082 units during the quarter. Maruti makes vehicles ranging from hatchback cars such as ‘Alto 800’ and ‘Swift’, to four-wheel-drives such as ‘Gypsy’ that is widely used by the Indian police and the military forces. Shares in Maruti Suzuki stock was trading 1.99 percent down at Rs 8,769.35 in the afternoon on BSE. – With agency inputs